


HAPPINESS: noun, the state of being happy

by archieknight



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alive Noah Czerny, First Kiss, M/M, Skater Noah Czerny, its just noah and ronan being emo idk what else to say, wow thats a tag i love this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 06:10:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14847263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archieknight/pseuds/archieknight
Summary: it's every teen movie cliche you hate but with ur fave boys





	HAPPINESS: noun, the state of being happy

Noah wasn’t the kind of boy who followed rules. It wasn’t like he was deliberately rebellious (as the awful pop punk music and blatant disregard of Aglionby’s uniform would suggest). It was just that he didn’t pay much attention. Gansey would never have gone into Ronan’s room without explicit permission, and probably not even then. But Noah just wandered in at any time of the day, and it was annoying.

“Should I put a ‘keep out’ sign on my door or?” Ronan sighed, head popping out from under his blankets. His eyes were squinting at the light and his face set in a scowl.

“I won’t read it,” Noah replied. “Gansey said you need to get your ass up, or we’ll be late. Well, he didn’t use the word ass but-”

Ronan shook his head and sat up, the black edges of his tattoo crawling round his bare shoulders pointing Noah’s eyes to his chest. “One day you’re gonna walk in on something you don’t wanna see.”

“Empty threats,” Noah muttered, trying to avert his gaze from Ronan’s half-covered form. He instead surveyed the mess on Ronan’s floor; scattered school books (never read), scrunched up shirts that weren’t black (never worn), and a battered old skateboard. Noah took a few steps forward and picked it up, “I didn’t know you skated.”

“I don’t,” Ronan groaned and stood up. Noah kept his eyes on the skateboard. “I dreamt it.”

“You dream of skating a lot then?” Noah asked.

Ronan looked at the thing, covered in stupid band stickers and scuffed up a the edges, then to Noah. “No. I dreamt of you, and that just came with me.”

“Oh, so you dream about me a lot then?” He smirked. 

“Don’t flatter yourself. I dream everything.”

Noah hummed, putting the skateboard down and rolling it back and forth with his foot while he waited for Ronan to get ready for school. “I could teach you how,” he suggested. 

Ronan didn’t turn around, but pursed his lips. “Not my thing,” he shrugged.

“Neither’s world history,” Noah let out that little mischievous smile that Ronan loved.

“Are you trying to get me to skip school with you to skate? What a fucking cliche,” he laughed. Noah was still giving him that smile and Ronan felt like he was being set alight. He kicked the skateboard away from Noah’s feet so he’d look up at him. 

Noah glared at him, “Do you want to?”

“Anything’s better than school,” Ronan tried a sigh but his smile let through it. Noah always thought Ronan’s smile looked more like biting. There was something defensive and feral about it.

They wandered out of Monmouth, Noah swinging the skateboard back on forth to hurry Ronan along. “Hey, are you trying to kill me with that thing?” Ronan snapped.

“For someone so tall, you walk pretty slow,” he teased, clicking his keys to unlock his Mustang. 

Ronan erupted in protest immediately. “No, no, no. We are not taking that monstrosity.”

“Don’t talk about her like that, she can hear you,” he said in a hushed tone.

“I think she’s more offended about the fast food wrappers you leave in her insides, constantly.” Ronan said, then leant down to whisper, “She smells like shit.”

“Asshole,” bit Noah. 

With minimal protest, they both got into the BMW. On the silent agreement that Noah got to choose the music. Ronan didn’t mind, though the flicker of blond hair in his peripheral whenever Noah headbangged was going to make him crash one day. Sometimes he just couldn’t take his eyes off Noah. Luckily Noah didn’t have the attention span to ever notice Ronan’s staring. 

He focused his eyes away from Noah’s flailing and onto the road, directing himself to a park he hadn’t been to in years. It was 9AM, so the park was deserted and across the grass was the graffitied mess of the skate park. He parked up. 

“Come one, skater boy. Teach me,” he goaded Noah as he flung himself out of the car.

They started to walk towards the skate park, and neither of them were sure at which point it stopped being hurried walking and became a race. Ronan won. He laid himself down in the middle of the half-pipe. The stone was warm against his back and it felt like summer was already with him. Of course, it wasn’t. He should have been at school.

Noah caught up, scampering up the ramps to meet Ronan, who laid back casually. “Well first, you gotta stand up.” 

Ronan groaned. 

“Hey, I thought you wanted to learn.” Noah pouted, setting down the skateboard and sitting on it next to Ronan. 

“No, I wanted to do anything but World Hist.”

“Your subconscious is telling you to skate, clearly,” Noah said. 

A phone buzzed, both of them ignored it.

Ronan rolled his eyes before dragging himself up. Then Noah flashed him a giant grin and stood up too. Well, he more, threw himself up butting chests with Ronan as he did. He stumbled back onto the skateboard, expertly keeping his balance. With the extra few inches of height the skateboard allowed, Noah could look into Ronan’s eyes. He stepped back off before he lost his balance. 

“Stand on it then,” Noah said. And Ronan shakily got onto the board, eyeing Noah skeptically. He would admit that it was nice to see Ronan out of his depth for once.

Once he was on it stably, Noah wrapped his hands around Ronan’s wrists to pull him along slowly, a courtesy he did not deserve after every single shopping cart incident. 

He unskillfully tried to kick the ground to go forward. The ground fell beneath him and the skateboard followed suit. Noah grabbed his my the arms to keep him up, and the skateboard rolled away from them. The bleary sunlight made everything feel light and free, and the only grounding weight was Ronan falling on him. It was something surreal. 

“Well, I suck at that.” Ronan nodded, squinting at the disappearing board. 

“You’ve tried once,” Noah sighed, only then realising he should let go of Ronan’s arms. 

A phone buzzed again, this time it was definitely Noah’s.

Ronan sat on the ledge of one of the ramps, “And failed. So it’s time time to give up.”

“You just don’t wanna embarrass yourself,” Noah muttered. He perched next to Ronan and let his head fall back, feeling the sun on his face. He had on a small smile of satisfaction. Everything about him was golden in that moment, making Ronan feel like a shadow.

“Embarrass myself by being a fully grown man riding a skateboard, yeah.”

“You’re the one dreaming them up,” Noah defended himself.

He snapped, “Stay out of my fucking dreams then.”

Noah pursed his lips and looked down at his feet, immediately silenced. Ronan was completely inscrutable, no matter how honest he was. He did not lie, but nothing about him wanted to show the truth; Not that tattoo on his back detailed with trickery and not the words that came out his mouth in frustration.

Noah’s voice was barely audible when he murmured, “That’s not something I can stop.” Then he stood up and fetched his board. “What’s your fucking problem?”

Leaving Ronan in his foul mood, Noah rolled around mindlessly. He didn’t understand Ronan at all sometimes, and he didn’t think he ever would. He’d thought that Gansey was the only one who did, but even he was struggling lately. Noah didn’t blame Ronan as he understood the stress he was under, but he’d wished he’d known how to help. 

“You’re my problem, Noah.” Ronan said, making Noah stop dead in his tracks and almost fall on his face. “You’re so fucking happy all the time, you’ve got this fucking energy-- God knows how. And you’re just there, you’re always fucking there; creeping into my room and skipping class with me.”

“I’m sorry?” Noah squeaked, a little offended.

“No no no. You make me want to be happy, Noah, and I don’t know how.” 

Noah walked over to Ronan, scrambled up the ramp to sit next to him. He put a hand in Ronan’s-- that was another things that drove him crazy, how tactile Noah was, touching him so thoughtlessly and not understanding how it made his heart race. Noah ran his finger tips up his, “You don’t have to be happy, Ronan.” He said calmly, “It’s a feeling, not a personality trait. You can feel happiness from anything.” 

“What if nothing does that?”

“Street racing makes you happy, right?” Noah said, and didn’t wait for a reply. “The same way skating does for me. It’s not something you are, it’s something you have.” 

“There are things you can’t just have,” Ronan replied.

Noah sucked a breath through his teeth and said, “True. And then there are things you need.”

Ronan turned his hand to grip Noah’s properly. I need you, he didn’t say and rested his head on Noah’s shoulder. 

A third buzz came from Ronan’s pocket, Gansey must be desperate now. Noah slipped his free hand into Ronan’s jacket pocket and answered the call. “Traffic,” he deadpanned and hung up.

Ronan snickered at him. When he went to put the phone back in Ronan’s pocket he used the vantage point of his waist to pull him in close. 

“What makes you feel as happy as street racing does?” Noah continued, unbothered by the call. Gansey didn’t have a leash on Noah like he did on Ronan.

He pursed his lips and untangled his fingers from Noah’s. “There’s something, but I don’t think it’s any less dangerous,” he muttered. He was inexperienced with these things but almost sure Noah was looking at his lips. 

“I’ve seen what Kavinsky does to those cars,” Noah said. “What’s worse than that?”

Ronan didn’t respond, and didn’t know where to put his hands. He put them in his pockets, took them out again, cracked his knuckles and eventually held them in front of him. 

“Okay, do your dreams ever make you happy?”

He laughed at that. 

“Come on, they can’t all be nightmares,” Noah said, then there was a moment of silence before he spoke again. This time, he spoke much softer. “Really? Even the ones I’m in?”

“Oh… Even the one with the skateboard?” he asked, pursing his lips. Ronan nodded this time. “I’m digging myself a hole here.”

Ronan let out a breathy chuckle; kind of sad, kind of relieved. He was glad Noah had made a fool of himself to take attention of him. It distracted him until he suddenly felt cold fingertips on his cheek. Touching Ronan was the kind of experience you expect to pull your hand back from and see it cut and bloody. But it was gentle. Ronan looked down at Noah’s hand, then to Noah.

Arms shaking, he reached up to wrap his fingers around Noah’s hand, thumb touching his wrist. It felt like forever to Noah, looking into Ronan’s eyes and waiting. This was an action Ronan needed to take, and to take his time. He could feel the boy shivering in the summer sun, his lip twitching with hesitance. 

And it was in the moment that Noah noted all those things, that Ronan bit the bullet. He all but flung himself at Noah and pressed their lips together. Noah kissed back but couldn’t hold back a little giggle at Ronan, who shut him up by kissing him again. He was even more serious than Noah when he was kissing him. 

Kissing Noah felt like flipping off the whole world, and Ronan loved it.


End file.
